A 22-year-old mother who recently found a tracking device on her car was shot and killed while driving on Tuesday, leading police to believe that she may have been murdered by a stalker. Abigail Saldaña was driving in Fort Worth, Texas, when she crashed into a sign after being shot, Fox 4 News reports.
A few weeks ago, Saldaña found the tracking device and told her mother that somebody may be following her.
"I had told her to go to the police and report it. I believe that she did report that," her mother Jessica Contreras said.
Saldaña also posted a video on Instagram, showing the tracking device and telling others to be careful.
"This was literally on my car like this,” Saldana said. “This is why you have to be careful. I don't know what to do moving forward with this. But this definitely looks like a tracker to me."
Police, who are now investigating the device, arrested 54-year-old Stanley Frank Szeliga on Thursday and charged him with murder.
"There is a tracker on this vehicle that we have identified,” Fort Worth police officer Tracy Carter said, according to NBCDFW. “We don't know how long that tracker has been on. That's something our detectives are looking into."
Szeliga's arrest came after he engaged in a standoff with a SWAT team, refusing to come out of his house. The SWAT team eventually entered the house and found the man with several self-inflicted cuts on his body, NBCDFW reports. He was treated for injuries at a hospital, then transported to the Tarrant County Jail.
"I don't know the connection between those two, but apparently he had been following her," Contreras said, adding that her daughter had taken photos of his vehicle and sent them to a friend after finding the tracking device.
The suspect, who is being held on a $250,000 bond, has a criminal history that includes domestic violence. Saldaña was raising her 5-year-old boy as a single mother in Dallas. The young woman held two jobs, styling eyebrows and working at a bar.
"Abby was the middle child. She was my only girl," Contreras said. "He took away a mother, a daughter, beautiful, strong, bright person. And there will be justice on that. I won't stop. I’ll see him in court."